Play and Stay
by Jeice Lover
Summary: An average friday night at the Puckett house, with a not so average visitor from a not so average guest. When Isabel comes to visit, she's bringing brutality to the table and putting the 'game' into the Monopoly board game. But why is she really there that night, and why does she seem so shifty when Max talks about her going home?


"...How did we get here?" Max asked aloud, expression completely flat.

"Well," Isabel started with a grin, "your first mistake was letting your dad trade me both of the blue real estate spaces, just so he could get all of the red ones, since that's his favorite color. Then Zoey messed up by using the last of her money to get a bail out of jail, just before landing on my space and going bankrupt. And now you and your tiny little houses think they can beat _my_ conglomerate of mass destruction!" She laughed in a faux maniacal way

"...I was more referring to the fact of you being here at my house, at night, unannounced, around the same time I came down to get the pizza, then inviting yourself in and eating dinner with us."

"Aw, come on, son, cheer up," Mr. Puckett encouraged. "Nothing wrong with a little competitive spirit. Having Isabel around has made this game way more interesting~"

"You let her 'sell' you a game piece that wasn't in use just so that you could have both the shoe and the wheelbarrow, dad," Max deadpanned.

"I like the feeling of being mobile in these games, thank you," Mr. Puckett returned. "Anyhow, I think it's been an excellent game, and a great way to spend a friday evening. Pizza, board games, and spooky movies~" Said 'spooky movie' they had playing in the background was currently showing a dancing pumpkin and a talking, anthropomorphic piece of candy corn singing a duet about love. Although, even _he_ had to admit that the pumpkin certainly had some lungs to it.

"Isn't it kinda' late?" Zoey asked, glancing over at the clock. "It's getting time to brush teeth and junk, and I had a long day at school."

"Whaat, come on. You don't wanna go double or nothing?" Isabel asked, picking up the dice and shaking them promisingly in her hands. I can put some of my money into your guys's accounts and see if you can't top my amazing conglomerate~"

"Eh, Zoey's right," Mr. Puckett shrugged. "It _is_ getting kinda' late. Need to get up early tomorrow so I can accommodate for all the people who come in on Saturdays when they're amiss for a box of Flakey-Os or Berry Crunches and a carton of milk." Both Zoey and Mr. Puckett stood up from the table, stretching out.

"Yeah, you'll probably wanna' get started home, too, Isabel," Zoey yawned. Isabel visibly grimaced at the mention of going home, though only Max noticed. "I'm going off to brush my teeth. Night."

"Ditto." Mr. Pucket nodded, and walked off towards the bathroom. Isabel grunted, holding up a hand as if to signal him to wait, but he never noticed as he was wiping off his glasses. "Clean up the game board and make sure Isabel has all her stuff together, alright Max? I can give her a ride home if she needs it. I just wanna brush my teeth real quick." Max sighed, and started gathering up all the game pieces and play money left strewn about the board.

"Well, you heard him. It's been fun having you come into our house, but it _is_ pretty late. You'll probably want to get home before-" He paused when Isabel suddenly grabbed his wrist, stopping him from putting play money back into its slot in the plastic holder.

"Aw, come on, Max," Isabel smiled, though it was noticeably strained. "The night's young, and so are we. It's friday night, there's still pizza and soda, and-"

" _Isabel_." Max looked at her intensely, stopping his friend's words in their tracks. She closed her mouth after a moment, then looked away from him. They said nothing for a while, simply sitting there in silence with the still-open Monopoly board between them. "... Why don't you want to go home?" His female friend grimaced as she thought of the reason. She could always lie, or change the subject, but something like that wouldn't fool Max. Unfortunately...

"... I... had a fight with my grandpa earlier," Isabel finally sighed. She rubbed her shoulder almost nervously as she avoided looking at him. "We said some stuff and... well, I sort of came out here without saying anything to him. Ed didn't even want to get involved," she went on, answering a question he had yet to ask. "You'd think he'd be ready to handle some of the baggage if he got on the friendship plane, but nope. He ducked out. _Again_."

"That's... wow," Max murmured. He really wasn't certain what to say, given he'd never had that sort of situation to deal with himself.

"Yep," Isabel replied in a sigh. "I know I'm gonna' have to go back and deal with him eventually, but... I just sort of don't want to have to do it right now."

"Hm." Max pushed his baseball cap back to scratch his head. "... Well... if you really don't want to go back yet... I guess you could spend the night here, if you want." Isabel looked at him with an expression of shock.

"Wha'? I mean, I wasn't trying to imply anything," Isabel said quickly. "I don't wanna make you feel like you have to. Plus, there's your dad, I don't know if he'd be alright with that." She stopped when Max gave her an utterly deadpan look. After a moment, he turned his head and placed his hand by his mouth.

" _Dad!_ Isabel needs to spend the night! She's gonna' take the couch!" he called out so that he could be heard down the hall in the bathroom where his father was brushing his teeth.

"Okay, Max," Mr. Puckett called back nonchalantly, much to Isabel's surprise. "There's some blankets in the top shelf of the closet! She can get a toothbrush from downstairs, on the house!"

"Thanks dad!" Max called back, then turned back to Isabel. "So, that's all taken care of," he went on easily. "I think we should have some extra shirts and stuff we don't use in the closet, we haven't unpacked it all from the move yet. You want to go and grab a toothbrush from downstairs while I find you something to use as pajamas?"

"Uh... sure," Isabel answered, honestly not really believing this was happening, even as she made her way down the stairs and into the convenience store. She ambled over to the shelf that had toothbrushes, and grabbed the first one she found (thankfully she didn't mind pink). _...Is this really my first time sleeping over at someone's house ?_ She found herself thinking. That was correct, though. Since she had Ed living in her house, and he was really one of the only people she interacted with regularly, she didn't have any other friends to invite her to spend the night.

So... yeah, first sleepover... That was a thing.

 _...Guess it's not the worst it could have been_ , she conceded to herself. _We had some pizza, watched T.V., played a board game... honestly, I think it's been a pretty good time so far._ She just didn't think that a sleepover would have everyone going to sleep at about nine at night. Eh, take what you can get, it seemed. She actually smiled as she made her way back upstairs, toothbrush in hand.

Max was already back in the living room, holding what looked to be an old t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants.

"Here ya' go," he offered out the clothing to her. "Sorry, they'll probably all be too big. And no underwear, so you'll just have to wear what you have on now. Don't really have any ladies' clothes in your size around here, unless you were wanting to borrow something of Zoey's instead." Isabel laughed aloud at the thought of squeezing into something that Max's sister wore.

"Nah, I think I'll be fine," Isabel finally managed after she had calmed herself down. "I'll probably just roll up the pant legs and stuff. Thanks for finding these for me."

"Cool," Max smiled, glad that he had found something she could work with. "Anyhow, I think I'm gonna hit the hay, PJ and Lefty are probably going to be throwing questions at me like hitballs about you, so best to get that over with early. Don't mind all the spirits skittering around the floorboards at night, the most they'll do is watch you for a while before they get bored. They're harmless."

"Thanks. I think I can handle a few night-skitterers," Isabel smirked. "Thanks again for putting me up tonight. I'll see you in the morning."

"G'night," Max waved, then went off to his room, shutting the door behind him. Once he was gone, Isabel looked down at the clothes in her hands. Wondering.

Why would they have these clothes anyhow? Max said himself that, with Zoey the only female in residence, they didn't exactly have a surplus of women's clothing. But the shirt most certainly had a female cut to it. So did the sweatpants. So why, then, did they happen to have these...

Then she remembered. A conversation, back from the first few days that Max had spent in Mayview. A conversation about a certain 'she' who had died in some sort of accident before his family had decided to move to their town...

"So they kept her clothes," Isabel whispered to herself, eyes fixed on the fabric in her hands. They had been so reluctant to even let the late Mrs. Puckett's clothes go, that they had brought them all the way to Mayview with them. And then to think that Max had even offered to let her use them...

Isabel just smiled, sighing as she felt the soft cotton in her fingers.

 _Look at me, getting all sappy over some clothes,_ she smirked to herself. It was almost funny, really... _Well, wherever they came from, or who they belonged to, he said I could wear them. That's good enough for me_. And with that, she walked off to the bathroom to get herself changed to go to sleep.

–

 _Why can't I fall alseep?!_ Isabel grunted with frustration as she flopped herself onto her side, groaning into the cough cushions. Even after nearly an hour of flumping around, she just couldn't fall asleep. The Puckett cough was comfortable, nothing there, and she was at just the right temperature for relaxing to sleep. Yet she still couldn't just shut her eyes and turn off her brain already. Every time she tried, an image of her grandpa seemed to blast itself at her eyeballs, and the next thing she knew she was muttering to herself.

"Dangit..." the groaned, pressing her cheek into a cushion.

"Can't sleep?" She jumped as she heard the voice, and turned to see Max standing there, holding a glass of in his hand.

"Max?" Isabel asked softly, sitting herself against the arm of the sofa. "What are you doing up? I thought you went to bed." And just how the heck had he gotten past her without waking her up?

"I did, but then Lefty and PJ kept me up talking for about an hour, until they dried out my throat. So I came back out here to get some water. Then I found the girl bumming on our couch muttering to herself malevolently." He set the glass down on the coffee table and sat at the far end of the cough, looking right at her through the gloom. His hands rested idly between his knees. "...Something on your mind?" Isabel sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"Just... had a lot on my mind, couldn't sleep," she muttered. "You don't have to be worried about me, I'll be fine."

"...Well, if you say so," Max sighed, scratching at his elbow. "But, you know... I'm probably not the only one who's worried about you right about now. And I don't mean my dad, he's already out like a light." Isabel pressed her lips together, thinking of how busy her house usually was.

"I know what you're saying, but it's probably not what you're thinking of," she muttered. "My grandpa'll probably be training some of his students right about now, they do night classes on Fridays. Ed'll probably be either in bed or still trying to up his own high score. No one'll care if I'm gone tonight."

"And tomorrow morning, when you're still not home, they won't worry either?" Max insisted, looking at her meaningfully. Isabel grunted, pulling her knees up to her chest. "Look, I know it's none of my business, but even if you're mad at them, you should still at least call to let them know you're alright. If they pick up, you don't have to talk to them, just say that you're okay and that you have a place to stay for tonight. If they don't, then you can leave a quick message with the same information and hang up." He shrugged. "Even if they're mad at you, too, I'm sure they'd be happy to know that you're alright." Isabel bit her lip, looking into her lap as if for inspiration. At last, though, she sighed, and looked at him.

"Mind if I borrow your cell?" Max smiled, and pointed to the kitchen. "Left it charging in my room, but I'll get you the home phone." He stood and plodded into their small cooking area, coming back with the receiver in hand, and held it out to her. "Here you go. One phone, a la land line." Isabel snorted as she took the device from him, and dialed in the number to the dojo, hoping deep down that no one would pick up to answer. Yet, deep down, hoping that they might?

After many long rings, she heard a beep on the other end, and knew without listening too far that she had gotten the voice mail. She was grateful for that. She waited a bit until she heard the second beep, and started talking.

"Hey Grandpa. Or, hey Ed. It's Isabel. I know you're probably not hearing this right now, but, whenever you get this, I wanted to call and let you know I'm okay. I'm staying at another friend's house tonight, and I'll be back tomorrow in time for the afternoon training... and, yeah, that's all I've got. I'm alright, had something filling for dinner, and I'll see you guys tomorrow... Well, yeah, that's about it. See you then. Bye." She clicked the 'end' button on the phone, and sighed. Miraculously, her shoulders felt lighter. As if a heavy weight had just been lifted. She deposited the phone into Max's outstretched hand, filled with relief.

"Better?" her friend asked. She just chuckled.

"Better." A yawn escaped her, and she nodded at him. "Well, I think I'm gonna try hitting the hay again. You can go back to bed with your empty glass of water," she joked. "I'll see you in the morning."

"See you then," he smiled. He held out his fist to her, which she bumped with hers before lying back down into the couch. "Night."

"Goodnight." She nestled into a comfy spot on the cushions, hearing his footsteps creak across the floorboards, and looking straight ahead of her to the coffee table. The glass, which stood completely dry, vaguely illuminated by some sort of phosphorescent spirit which now stood and examined it from where it was on the coffee table, somehow made her happy, just a bit. She closed her eyes and, at last, was able to drift off to sleep.


End file.
